Gotha WD.8 explained
The
Gotha WD.8 (German:
Wasser Doppeldecker - "Water
Biplane") was a single-engine
maritime patrol floatplane developed during
World War I by German:
[[Gothaer Waggonfabrik]] for the
Imperial German Navy's (German:
Kaiserliche Marine) Naval Air Service (German:
Marine-Fliegerabteilung). The WD.8 was a single-engine version of the WD.7 developed for comparative purposes. The single prototype built was deemed "totally unsuitable" by the Naval Air Service and was later sold to the
Ottoman Empire.
Design and description
The airframe of the WD.7 was used to create the WD.8 reconnaissance floatplane, substituting a single water-cooled 240hp Maybach Mb.IVa straight-six engine in the nose for the two wing-mounted 120hp engines of the earlier aircraft.
Bibliography
- Book: Gray. Peter. German Aircraft of the First World War. 1970. 1987 . Putnam . London. 0-85177-809-7. 2nd. Owen. Thetford. amp.
- Book: Herris . Jack . Gotha Aircraft of WWI: A Centennial Perspective on Great War Airplanes . 2013 . Aeronaut Books . Charleston, South Carolina . 978-1-935881-14-8. Great War Aviation Centennial Series. 6.
- Book: Metzmacher . Andreas . Gotha Aircraft 1913–1954: From the London Bomber to the Flying Wing Jet Fighter . 2021 . Fonthill . Brimscombe, Stroud . 978-1-78155-706-8.
- Book: Nowarra . Heinz J.. Robertson. Bruce. Cooksley. Peter G. . Marine Aircraft of the 1914–1918 War . Harleyford Publications . Letchworth, UK. amp . 1966. 123198808.
- Book: Schmeelke . Michael . Zeebrugge: Naval Air Station Flanders I 1914–1918 . 2018 . Aeronaut Books . n. p. . 978-1-935881-46-9 . none.